Medical treatment of various illnesses or diseases commonly includes the use of one or more medical devices. Two types of medical devices that are commonly used to repair various types of body passageways are an expandable balloon and a stent. These devices are commonly used to reopen or increase the size of an opening in a body passageway such as a blood vessel.
Old age, dietary habits and primary genetics can also lead to a common disease, atherosclerosis. Atherosclerotic plaques and blockages consist of lipids, fibroblasts and fibrin that proliferate and cause obstruction of a vessel. As the obstruction grows, the blood flow diminishes and reaches a level that is insufficient to meet the biological needs of one or more organs. The end result is defined as ischemia.
One purpose of an expandable balloon and a stent is to open a blocked or partially blocked body passageway. When a balloon or stent is used in a blood vessel, the balloon and/or stent is used to open the occluded vessel to achieve improved blood flow which is necessary to provide for the anatomical function of an organ. The procedure of opening a blocked or partially blocked body passageway commonly includes the use of a balloon or stents in combination with other medical devices such as, but not limited to, an introducer sheath, a guiding catheter, a guide wire, etc.
When an expandable balloon is only used to open or increase the opening in a passageway, the expandable balloon generally just compresses the plaque and/or other types of deposits against the sides of the passageway when the balloon is expanded. Although this expansion of the balloon is effective in opening or increasing the opening in the passageway, there is no convenient arrangement to directly treat the diseased region of the passageway with biological agent when only using an expandable balloon.
In view of the existing state of the prior art, there is a need for an inflatable device designed to be expanded in a body passageway which can be used to open or increase the opening in a passageway and to directly treat a diseased region in the passageway with biological agent.